"Yes, I'm sure, and no I haven't, but I really want to. With you. I have for a long time. I'm just worried about ... you know ... getting pregnant."

"Me too. But I'm having a hard time stopping. What do you want me to do? I can't guarantee you won't get pregnant. We don't have any birth control out here, other than just me pulling out, which isn't the most effective way, as you probably know from s.e.x ed with Mr. Tanner."

She could hear the teasing in his voice and smiled at the memory of that uncomfortable cla.s.s. "Just um ... finish ... um ... outside ... like you said. I think it will be okay." She tried not to let her embarra.s.sment ruin the mood.

"I'll do my best."

Kevin was gentle with her, and Candi was carried away by the pa.s.sion and feelings that rushed through her body and mind. She knew she would never forget this moment, never regret it.

Later they stretched out on their backs in the sand, staring at the stars above their heads. Neither one of them said anything. The night was too perfect to spoil with talk right now.

But soon enough, Candi started to worry about getting caught. "Come on, we'd better get back. We don't want Jonathan and Sarah to worry and come looking for us."

Kevin chuckled. "I don't think you need to worry about that. I'm sure they're keeping each other busy. But come on, we can go. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired."

"I am completely covered in sand," said Candi.

"We'll take a shower when we get back."

"But it's so late," whined Candi.

"Yeah, but it's our island. If we want to take a shower in the middle of the night, we can, right?"

Candi smiled back. "Right. Showers it is."

"No, not showers. Shower. Singular. We're going in together."

Candi felt herself get all warm again. She didn't say anything; she just kept walking back to the treehouse, hand in hand, with her boyfriend, Kevin Peterson.

"What do you think they're doing out there?" asked Sarah. She had moved to sit next to Jonathan on the log next to the fire. After they kissed, they took some time to clean up the dishes and put everything back in the baskets. They disa.s.sembled the limbo game and stacked all the poles near the tree line to put away when it was light out again.

"I don't know, taking a walk?" suggested Jonathan. He really didn't want to think about what his sister was doing right now. He knew she was safe with Kevin, but the thought of her and him together? That was, just, eww. He didn't want to go there.

"Well, we're here together. All alone, you and me. What do you think we should do?"

Her suggestion was undeniable. She got off the log to kneel in front of him, scooting over so that she was between his legs. She reached up and ran her hands from his knees, slowly up his thighs towards his hips.

Jonathan inhaled sharply. She was barely touching him, but it was making him crazy already.

This was nuts, he decided. She was hot for him, he was hot for her ... I have no idea what I'm doing, but I might as well figure it out.

Jonathan put his hands on either side of Sarah's face and drew her towards him. Their lips met and it was instant pa.s.sion. Their kisses turned feverish. Jonathan didn't have a plan, all he knew was that he wanted to be with her right then, right there in front of the fire. He didn't even think about being seen by his own sister. Something about Sarah made him forget to worry.

"Oh my G.o.d, Jonathan, I want you so bad!" Sarah gasped desperately.

"Me too," he said breathlessly.

Sarah pulled him down on top of her and within seconds, they were both caught up in the frenzied pace of their lovemaking. They were both crying out, unable to stop the freight train that was leading them over the edge.

Jonathan felt a piece of his life force ebb out of him and into the warmth that was Sarah beneath him. His breath was coming in gasps, the sweat pouring off of him. Some of it dripped from his face and landed on Sarah's.

"Sorry about that, I'm sweating on you."

"Mmmm, I like it." Sarah wriggled a little under him.

Jonathan looked down at her face, glowing in the flickering flames of the campfire. "You're really s.e.xy, you know that?"

She suddenly seemed very vulnerable and shy. "Really?"

"h.e.l.l, yes."

"You just said a bad word."

"Yes, I did. Something about you makes me want to do bad things."

"Oh reeeaaallly ... "

"Ah, don't move," he said, "or you're going to have to do that all over again."

"Man, do you have staying power, or what?" she asked, sounding impressed.

"Sarah, I've been storing up this energy for about, oh, maybe six years or so; so whenever you're ready to go, just tap me on the shoulder, and I'll be ready to go too."

"But what do I do when you're all tapped out?"

"I'm pretty sure that couldn't possibly happen when I'm with a girl as beautiful as you."

Sarah said nothing, but lifted her head up to give him a kiss on the lips.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Just because. Now let me up so I can go rinse myself off. I have sand in every crevice, and I mean every crevice. Plus, we got a little nuts there and failed to take one little detail into consideration. And I'm not sure there's anything I can do about that, but I'm going to try."

"What's that?"

"Failure to employ any method of birth control."

"Oh, c.r.a.p," said Jonathan, the heat rising up in his face. What have I done? "I can't believe I didn't even think about that until just now."

"Well, I thought about it, but decided to say what the h.e.l.l. Hopefully we won't regret it later. I'm going down to the water to rinse off."

"Are you sure you're okay? You had a lot of that wine. I could go with you."

"Yes, I'm tipsy, I admit it, but I'm fine. Stay here, I'll be back in a few."

Jonathan eased back onto the sand, watching her walk out of the ring of light, heading towards the water. He tried to keep his eyes open, but the little bit of alcohol he'd drunk, the warm fire, and the contentment of losing his virginity to the most beautiful girl he had ever known was a very potent sleeping pill, even more potent than the thoughts of having unprotected s.e.x. He fell asleep within seconds, the waves breaking against the sh.o.r.e the last thing he remembered hearing.

"Jonathan, get up. Get up, Jonathan."

He could hear Candi's irritated voice in his dream. He wished she'd go away so he could keep on dreaming about his beautiful girlfriend, Sarah Peterson.

Then he was jerked awake by the feeling of cold water tossed in his face.

"Sorry, buddy, but you need to get up." This voice was Kevin's and it sounded stern.

"What the ... ?" Jonathan sat up and looked around him. "Where am I?"

"You're still at the prom, now where is Sarah?" demanded Kevin.

"Sarah?" He was momentarily confused. Where is Sarah? How should I know where Sarah is?

Then it all came flooding back to him. Sarah at the campfire. Sarah underneath him. Sarah so beautiful. Sarah going to rinse off in the ocean ...

"Oh my G.o.d," he jumped up in a panic. "Last night she went down to the water; I was supposed to wait up for her, but I must have fallen asleep!" Jonathan started running his hands through his hair in agitation. "Do you mean she didn't come back to the treehouse last night?" He was hoping for an answer he knew he wasn't going to get.

"No, Jonathan, she didn't. That's why we're here with you asking where she is." Candi was p.i.s.sed. "How could you have fallen asleep and left Sarah, who was drunk, to wander around by herself? This is so unlike you."

"Don't get angry just yet, Candi, let's think this through," said Kevin. "Sarah wouldn't just walk into the water and disappear. Maybe she tried to get to the treehouse and then got lost; you know there was no moon out last night, and it was very dark."

"Yeah, okay, that makes sense," said Jonathan, taking deep breaths to calm himself. "We just need to find her trail and follow it."

Candi nodded her head in agreement, frowning in obvious disapproval at her brother.

"Let's split up, see if we can find her footprints anywhere on the beach," said Kevin. "Focus on the tree line area."

They all walked down the beach, Kevin and Candi going one direction and Jonathan going the other. After less than a minute, Candi yelled out, "I think I found something!"

The other two came running over. Sure enough, there were small, girl-sized footprints in the sand, leading into the trees about twenty yards down from the campfire.

"Why would she go into the trees here?" asked Jonathan, confused.

"Who knows? Maybe she was too drunk to realize what she was doing."

That comment made Jonathan feel twice as bad as he already felt. He responded meekly, "She seemed to know what she was doing before she left."

Kevin gave him a narrow-eyed stare. "Oh, she did, did she?"

Candi put her hand on Kevin's arm to calm him down. "Not now, guys, we need to track her down. Can you tell which way she went?"

"Luckily, she walked through here like a wounded elephant," said Kevin. "Look at all the broken leaves."

"Do you think she's wounded?" asked Candi in a worried voice.

"No, it's just an expression. I mean, she wasn't walking very delicately. Come on, let's follow her path of destruction."

They all followed Kevin single file through the trees. The route they took turned left and right indiscriminately. If Sarah had been following some sort of path, they couldn't see it. She seemed to be wandering, not knowing where she was going, heading in the opposite direction of the treehouse.

They continued on for an hour. It was hard to walk quickly in some of the areas because the trees were so dense. Eventually it started to thin out; they could see sun coming through the canopy above. They could also hear the ocean again.

"I think we're getting near the northern coast of the island," said Jonathan.

Just then they stepped into a clearing, and sitting in the middle of it was a very bedraggled and tired-looking Sarah, still wearing her coconut bra top and gra.s.s skirt. The top sat on her chest, slightly askew.

"Well, there you are," she said impatiently, standing up and brushing herself off, trying to adjust her coconut cups so they were straight. "Finally. I thought I was going to have to light a friggin' signal fire or something." She walked over to meet them at the edge of the clearing.

Jonathan stepped over to stand in front of her. "Are you okay?" He searched her face for clues of her mood.

Sarah reached up and stroked his cheek, then slapped it lightly. "Fell asleep, didn't ya?"

Jonathan ducked his head in shame. "Yes, I did, I'm so sorry, Sarah. I left you out here alone. I don't know what to say, but I totally understand if you hate me right now." His heart squeezed in his chest at the idea of her not wanting him anymore.

"No, I don't hate you. You and I both had too much to drink, and we have bigger problems to worry about right now, anyway."

"What do you mean?" asked Kevin, looking over at Jonathan with an expression that said he wasn't going to let him off as easy as Sarah had.

"Follow me, peeps. You are not going to believe the s.h.i.t I found."

CHAPTER TWELVE.

Interlopers Sarah led them through the trees until they reached an area about thirty yards wide that seemed to be cut into the jungle with a giant cookie-cutter. There were no tall trees here. The entire squared-off area was filled with plants, none of which were more than five feet tall. They also weren't palms or guavas or any of the other plants and trees they were used to seeing on the island.

Sarah held out her arms, presenting the plants with a flourish of her arms. "Voila!" She stood there silently waiting for someone to make the connection.

No one said anything. They just looked at the plants, then back at her.

She tried again, throwing her arms out more theatrically. "Voila!"

Then she saw Kevin's eyes nearly bulge out of his head. "Holy s.h.i.t. Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes, h.e.l.lo, finally the light bulb comes on," said Sarah sarcastically.

Jonathan and Candi stood there with their light bulbs still off. "I don't get it," said Jonathan. "It's a field of short plants."

Kevin smiled. "Look a little closer, Wikipedia guy, see if those plants look familiar to you at all."

Jonathan moved closer and took one of the large, seven-pointed leaves in his hand. "These look like ... "

He didn't finish. He just turned to look at Sarah and Kevin. "Are these what I think they are?"